


Comfort

by unsettled



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Peter Parker, Beta/Omega, Christmas Season, Established Relationship, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Nesting, Omega Tony Stark, POV Peter Parker, Peter's a little insecure, Possessive Behavior, Scent Marking, Sharing Clothes, Tony's a little sad, starkerfestival's holiday exchange 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:53:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28423506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unsettled/pseuds/unsettled
Summary: There aren't many reasons omegas build nests - in fact, Peter can only think of one right now, and he's really, really,reallysure Tony's not pregnant. So what is going on?
Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark
Comments: 10
Kudos: 192
Collections: Starker Festivals Holiday Exchange 2020





	Comfort

**Author's Note:**

  * For [grosskopf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/grosskopf/gifts).



> I really liked the sound of your nesting prompt, but I can't seem to help myself from letting Tony get sad for a bit. I hope it's not a downer! 
> 
> I can't find you on tumblr to @, but if you let me know what name you use there I can add you to that post!

Peter should have tried the shop first. 

In his defense, Tony had said he’d be busy with other things all day, so really, he wasn’t supposed to be in the shop. Like that ever stopped him. 

But instead, Peter spent a couple of hours wandering around and starting to feel like an idiot. Maybe he was just… being too clingy, maybe he shouldn’t keep looking every time he can’t find Tony. He just misses him.

It doesn’t look like Tony’s in the shop when Peter first steps in, but that’s not all that unusual. “Tony?” he calls. 

There’s nothing for a moment, and then, so quiet he wouldn’t have heard it without his enhanced senses, “Oh shit.”

Well, that’s not good. “Tony?” he says. “Uh, is something wrong? Where are you anyway?”

He walks around the side of the big L shaped desk and just. Stops. There’s a whole mess of— blankets and clothes and shiny stuff—tinsel?—and he can’t make sense of it at first. 

There’s a muffled sigh and then Tony’s head pokes out. “Um,” he says. “Hi.” 

He looks nervous, and everything slots into place in Peter’s head. This is— Tony’s nesting. Tony’s  _ nesting. _ Oh fuck. 

There’s— there’s no way Tony could be pregnant, right? Right? Peter’s a beta, after all, and that’s just not— it’s not possible. Betas can’t get male omegas pregnant, they just can’t. But Tony’s nesting and omegas don’t nest unless they’re pregnant and that is a hell of a nest and Tony looks nervous, so maybe… maybe he is pregnant, oh my god. Maybe the bite did something and Peter  _ can _ get him pregnant, or— or maybe he’s going to tell Peter it’s not his, it’s— he didn’t think Tony even wanted kids enough to do that, much less without telling him, it’s just— 

“Look,” Tony says, a little sharp. “I know it’s weird, okay? I get it, it was outdated even when I was growing up and everyone calls it feral nowadays. I don’t— I don’t do it often, alright?” 

Peter stares at him. Blinks, and refocuses; Tony’s looking even more worried, shoulders tight and arms crossed, even a little color in his cheeks. 

Tony’s jaw clenches for a second. “I wasn’t going to keep it up,” he says. “I— I wasn’t supposed to see you until this evening; I was just going to spend a few hours in it and then take it apart. I know it’s a bad habit, I’m just— it’s not. I’m—” He rubs a hand over his face. “Will you stop looking at me like that?”

“I’m not—” Peter starts, replaying Tony’s words. “Wait. Uh…” There’s nothing outdated or weird about pregnant nesting, what is Tony even talking about? 

Oh. Ohhh, wow, okay, Peter thinks. He’s comfort nesting, stress nesting. That’s gotta be what this is, why he’s all defensive about it. Cause yeah, people don’t have a lot of nice things to say about omegas that do that. 

_ I wasn’t going to keep it, _ Tony’d said, and suddenly Peter feels really sad. That’s just— if Tony’s stressed enough he’s going this, especially if he thinks it’s such a bad thing still, tearing down a nest he’d just made is going to hurt. He shouldn’t feel like he has to. 

“Peter—” Tony says, softer, wary. 

“Okay, wait a second,” Peter says. “I’m totally not thinking anything bad? Like, I don’t think it’s a bad habit or feral, that’s kind of gross. You’re not hurting anyone! What’s so wrong about it?” 

Tony blinks at him. “Really?” 

“Yeah,” Peter says. “You don’t have to take it down, you know. It’s your space.” Tony’s got that little crease between his eyebrows, the one he gets when things aren’t making sense to him. He’s so smart, but then these weird little things will trip him up. 

“You don’t have to tell me,” Peter adds, carefully, “but— what’s wrong? I didn’t know you were so stressed. It’s gotta be pretty bad if you’re doing this, though.”

Tony stares, but some of the tension in his body has eased. “You’re unreal,” he murmurs. Shakes his head, briefly. “And I’m incredibly lucky. You know what, sweetheart— come here.” He wiggles back in a bit. “Come on in.”

Peter’s mouth almost drops open. “Are you sure?” he says, because you just— you just don’t  _ do  _ that. You don’t invade an omega’s nest unless you are trying to make trouble, or get hurt. There’s a reason they call this kind of nesting feral. 

“Yeah,” Tony says, smiling at him. “Keep me company.” 

“Okay,” Peter says, and crawls in. He has to wiggle a bit to get through the entrance with Tony half in the way, and for a few moments everything is a confused tangle of limbs and fabric, Peter almost elbowing Tony and getting a little laugh in return. 

They get settled eventually, curled close together, knees bumping into each other’s, sharing each other’s air. It’s a good nest; it’s warm and soft, the padding below Peter thick enough he doesn’t even feel the floor. Everything smells familiar, comforting; the grease and metal and ozone of the shop, the spicy green of Tony’s shampoo and the lighter smell of the detergent the cleaners use, the blend of their own scents all over everything. Tony’s wearing one of Peter’s softest, most worn out hoodies, still smelling of him. It’s too big on Peter but just about right on Tony. 

The light’s a little dim, but he can still make out Tony’s face easily enough. “Hi,” Peter says, tucking his fingers under the edge of said hoodie, his wrist point resting against the scent point on Tony’s hip. 

Tony’s relaxed now, comfortable. “Hi,” he says back, obviously amused. Reaches out and runs his fingers through Peter’s hair, trailing over the edge of his ear; Peter turns into it and brushes his lips over the point on Tony’s wrist, marking himself with Tony’s scent. Tony’s always sits heavier on him than his beta scent will ever be on Tony. 

Maybe Tony was okay with sharing his space because of that. Because Peter’s just a beta, not a threat. Not that Tony would ever tell him that; he’s very careful not to compare Peter to any of the alphas he’s had, at least not in any way that doesn’t put them down. Honestly, Peter kind of thinks Tony had a lot of shit alphas. 

He presses forward a little and kisses Tony, so light; Tony catches him when he pulls back and brings him right back in, settling into slow, soft kissing. When he finally lets Peter go, he looks nearly boneless, languid in a way Peter very seldom sees, sunk down into instincts more than he’d ever show outside the bedroom. “Better?” Peter asks.

Tony smiles, his eyes hooded. “Yeah,” he says. “I should build all my nests around you,” and something about that makes Peter shudder, wanting. 

“Whatever you want, Tony,” he says. “Whatever I can do. I hate seeing you unhappy.” 

He shouldn’t have said it, he knows the second it comes out. Tony loses a little of that softness, his smile fading slightly. “It’s nothing you did, baby,” he says. “This time of year is just… hard. I—” he hesitates, and Peter smooths his hand along Tony’s side, gentle. “Tomorrow’s the day they died,” he says, and oh god, Peter had forgotten. He’d completely forgotten, but it’s not like Tony every could. Ever would. 

“I’m so sorry,” Peter says. “God Tony, I’m sorry. I didn’t even— I should have known.” 

“No, no,” Tony says. “There’s no reason you should keep track of that, Peter. It’s fine. I told you, you didn’t do anything. It’s just— tomorrow I won’t be able to hide like this. It’ll be these… public displays, being watched and being forced to remember and now—” he sighs. “Now, it’s easier and harder at the same time. Now I know what really happened, but I spent so long blaming Howard. Now I’m not supposed to blame anyone. It’s not… well, it doesn’t matter, does it.” 

“I’m sorry,” Peter says again, and it feels weak, useless. 

“It gets to be too much sometimes,” Tony says, curling a little closer to Peter. “All the holiday stuff and cheer of the season and parties and charities and— it starts feeling so fake, so tiring after a while and I just have to get away so I can breathe. I always want to do this at some point, but I haven’t for years. It wasn’t— it looked like a weakness, you know? And Stark Industries can’t have that,” sharp, almost bitter. Peter tightens his arm around Tony and pulls him flush against Peter, rolling onto his back a little. The nest shifts around them but holds.

“Maybe you don’t have to try and do it all this year?” Peter offers. “We could try to dial it back, just do a few things and keep the rest for ourselves, something quiet.” He hesitates; he should have noticed this before, shouldn’t have he? Why didn’t he see it last year? 

Maybe he just wasn’t paying close enough attention. Maybe Tony wasn’t sure it was really safe to show it yet. 

He kisses the edge of Tony’s jaw. “What do you actually like about the holidays?” he asks Tony. “We could just do those things.”

Tony shrugs. “I don’t know,” he says. “Do I really like any of it? I don’t even remember, baby.” 

Wow, that sucks. “Guess we’ll just have to experiment,” he says, and Tony laughs softly. 

Laughs a little harder a second later. “Actually,” he says, “there is one thing I like a lot.” He wiggles until Peter lets go and practically crawls over Peter out of the nest, Peter twisting around and starting to follow. “Ah ah,” Tony tells him. “You stay right there. And keep your eyes closed. It’s a surprise.” 

Peter can still hear him rummaging around, but he’s mostly stuck on that, on Tony wanting Peter to stay in his nest even without Tony in it. Tony claiming him like that, broadcasting how Peter belongs to him even when there’s no one to notice. It’s not something Peter ever thought he’d have. 

“Okay,” Tony says, brushing against Peter, pushing him onto his back and straddling him. “Don’t open them yet,” and it feels like he’s doing something above Peter, messing with the nest a bit. “There. Go ahead, look.”

Peter opens his eyes. Looks to Tony first, of course, and Tony’s almost smirking. Looks up himself and Peter follows his gaze. 

There’s a piece of mistletoe stuck between the blankets. 

“Really?” Peter says. “Like you need an excuse to kiss me.” 

“I’ll take any reason at all,” Tony says. Kisses Peter, but it’s so soft, so gentle. It’s not leading anywhere, Peter thinks, just because Tony can. Just for a little reassurance, a little comfort. 

He’ll give Tony every bit of that he can.

He couldn’t say how long they kiss like that, or how long Tony just lies curled up with him, half on top of Peter and held close; time feels a bit unreal in here, the world cut off, nothing left but warmth and their scents and his omega, safe. 

Tony drifts off eventually, breathing deeply against Peter’s neck. He pets Tony’s hair, slow, just playing with it. It’s probably a good thing that Tony even let himself build this, that he felt safe enough with Peter to actually allow himself some comfort when he needed it. 

Peter just doesn’t want him to have to need it. 

Tomorrow, he decides, he’ll stand by Tony and offer whatever he can to get through the day. And then he’ll find a way—he’ll  _ make _ a way—for things to be quieter this year. He’ll talk to Pepper and Rhodey, maybe Natasha; she doesn’t really hide her soft spot for Tony. Happy too, and May, of course, though he’ll probably have to nix her offer to bake. 

He stares up at the blankets above him, the mistletoe, the little strand of tinsel and one of his shirts, just the corner of the words showing. It’s a good nest; he’ll see if he can convince Tony to leave it up for a bit. Maybe it will help just to know it’s there, that it’s an option. Maybe they’ll sleep here a few nights. 

Maybe Peter isn’t allowed to share this with Tony just because he’s a beta; maybe he makes Tony feel safe, even if he’s not an alpha. 

Maybe it’s just because Tony loves him. 

Yeah, he thinks, starting to drift off as well, that one sounds right. 

After all, he knows that’s true. 


End file.
